This collection of mostly bracing and upbeat music celebrates two rugged individualists of jazz and their like-minded circle of friends… – Dan Morgenstern, liner notes
Expected release Date: Late April
Limited Edition: 5,000 copies
8 CDs – $136.00
From Chicago To New York, They Brought The Party.
The jazz musician might be a revolutionary or a firebrand, and either a willing leader or soldier of musical revolt. But if he or she isn’t all of that, every one is at very least a rascal. A non-conformist. Comrades for life with kindred artists who decided, when the world got divided, to pack into the corner with the misfits, the jokers, the potentially dangerous and mildly wild – pretty much anyone who wasn’t one of the straights.
Eddie Condon and Bud Freeman were just such spirits. In some respects they were keepers of the flame for the New Orleans‘ origins of Dixieland, but as Chicagoans they put their own stamp on things. Harder, faster, more focused on personality and soloing than ensembles, the music attracted others who enjoyed palling around and blowing free. This is jazz that seemed naturally born in smoky back rooms and saloons. And you were always guaranteed a fine time.
Thanks to Mosaic’s ability to bundle collections from numerous labels and archives, we can finally present, for the first time anywhere, The Complete Commodore & Decca Eddie Condon & Bud Freeman Sessions. It’s a substantial set – eight CDs containing 199 tracks in all. The set spans the years 1938, when Chicago-style jazz first took root in New York, through 1950.
The Nicksieland Band
It’s the most extensive collection you will find showcasing this style, from two of its leading proponents — music that became known as Nicksieland Jazz after Nick’s Tavern in Greenwich Village, the popular haunt that was home to this music from the time these tracks were recorded.
In the interests of being as complete as humanly possible, we’ve searched out every available LP and 78 from collector sources to augment what exists in the record label vaults, then painstakingly and lovingly transferred them using state-of-the-art 24-bit digital technology. We can confidently assure you, you’ve never heard them sound this good.
But the honest truth is, this music always sounds pretty darn good.
A Who’s Who of the Chicago Style
They are joined on the sessions by noted denizens Bobby Hackett, Jack Teagarden, Pee Wee Russell, Jess Stacy, Artie Shapiro, George Wettling, Vernon Brown, Joe Buskin, Lionel Hampton, Joe Sullivan, Clyde Newcome, Dave Tough, Billy Butterfield, Max Kaminsky, James P. Johnson, Peanuts Hucko, Ralph Sutton, Ed Hall, Yank Lawson, and others. In other words, the gang’s all here. Many of them, simultaneously working in more traditional and sweet bands, took these dates as an opportunity to blow.
Chronologically, these recordings sit alongside the Columbia Condon Mob Sessions on Mosaic, beginning a little sooner and ending a little earlier. They pre-date Mosaic’s Condon Columbia All-Stars set. And the Commodore material previously appeared on our Complete Commodore three-volume set. All of those collections are long out of print and hard to find. The currently-available Mosaic Bud Freeman single, Chicago/ Austin High School, is from a late-1950s reunion, well after the era of these sessions.
Our exclusive 40 page booklet includes an essay by Dan Morgenstern, an extensive discography that corrects many discrepancies and errors, and rare photos. There are a multitude of unissued alternate takes from many of the Decca sides that were languishing in the vaults. As with all our Mosaic sets, it will only be available for a limited time.
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"Don't play what the public want. You play what you want and let the public pick up on what you doin' -- even if it take them fifteen, twenty years." (Thelonious Monk) | Meine Sendungen auf Radio StoneFM: gypsy goes jazz, #151: Neuheiten aus dem Archiv – 09.04., 22:00 | Slow Drive to South Africa, #8: tba | No Problem Saloon, #30: tba